Before I could even process what had happened, Wardell said quietly, “Joyce, I just want to say… I’m sorry. For comin’ on too strong when we first met. I know it wasn’t right.”
I blinked, taken aback by his confession but grateful for it all the same. Part of me had expected another offhand remark, but I saw something different in his eyes—earnestness. I breathed easier. “Thank you, Wardell. That means a lot. But let me tell you something—you’ve got a treasure in Christine. Not every woman would put up with you.”
Wardell chuckled, scratching the back of his neck. “Yeah… I realize that every day of my life. She’s made it real clear I need to straighten up if I want people to respect me—or even like me.” He cleared his throat. “Now, let’s get to work. Write down these materials I tell you we need so you can give the list to Lupita.”
Dutifully, I typed the list of parts and tools into my cell phone. Richard returned and listened to the more detailed plan that Wardell suggested the second time around. I left the two of them alone, since I wasn’t technically on the water heater “team.”
I supposed I was just on the material-buying team, because when I got back to the living room, Gabriella had two sets of videos playing. One about caulking on the television, another about fixing leaky pipes on her large iPad. The girls had a classroom in full session.
About half an hour later, Lupita’s list had grown to an estimated six hundred dollars’ worth of materials we needed, but she assured us that she’d be able to get a few hundred knocked off with her contact at the store. Wardell shrieked, “Well, alrighty then! I need to be hooked up with your connections!”
Here again, Christine intervened. “She’s my friend. That’s enough.”
Wardell charged us all to be back at the house tomorrow morning. “I need everyone here in the morning. Nine a.m. sharp to start on your assignment.”
“I have to go to work,” I blurted out as the others began to mumble their objections.
Wardell huffed like this was something we’d all been planning for months, knowing full well he just got this position less than an hour ago.
I gave him the don’t-go-all-dramatic eye.
Richard smoothed things over with, “Why don’t we all decide on a good time that works for everyone?”
“Saturday morning,” Althea suggested. “That way we can all rest our bones and apply our ointment on Sunday. And that’ll give me time to meet you all at the hardware store. I’m definitely going to need some help with this list,” she thumb-scrolled her phone.
I shook my head. “Saturday won’t work. I’ve got the electrician coming by. He may need to shut off the power for a while, and that’ll make it too hot in here for us to work.”
No one argued my point there.
“And I have a cooking contest Saturday,” Gabriella said to my surprise.
My eyes flicked over to her immediately, searching her face.A cooking contest this weekend?I’d known she planned to compete again, but it wasn’t like her to keep the details of her culinary plans quiet. If nothing else, I thought I was a shoo-in for head taste-tester.
But now, she was avoiding my gaze, looking at everyone else in the room except me. “Sunday?” she continued her quest.
“Sunday morning is for church,” Christine said incredulously.
“After church?” Gabriella suggested.
Wardell mumbled, “I don’t like to work on the Sabbath.”
Christine stared him. “You don’t even attend church on the Sabbath.”
He shrugged.
Christine said, “Service ends at eleven. We can be here by eleven thirty.”
“My church ends at noon. I can grab a bite to eat and be here by one,” Richard said.
Gabriella echoed him as she threw out the suggestion, “One, then?”
Heads nodded.
“One, it is,” I said, solidifying the plan, still distracted by Gabriella’s unexpected declaration about the contest.
What’s going on?I wondered again.
But Wardell had the last word, of course. “Okay. If we’re gonna start that late on Sunday, we probably won’t get finished in one day. Caulk and things need time to dry. So everybody plan to be here Sunday afternoon and Monday evening. Will that work?”
